I was talking to a couple of friends of mine the other day and they both appeared to be in a foul mood and were complaining about the country, our economy, illegal immigration, politics, race relations, personal finance, family, and most of all about their careers. One of them told me he had “real” problems and issues at work. Well, poor baby – Poo poopy doo! Someone please get a tissue because I feel a good cry coming on.
Please excuse me if I sound a little harsh, but if you don’t have some problems and issues at work, you don’t have a real job.
I felt pretty good before I started talking to these guys, but afterwards I felt like hanging myself.
I’ve traveled the world more than most and have seen real poverty and I’ve seen human misery. I saw a poor soul begging on the street in India who was filthy dirty and dressed literally in rags. He had leprosy and was missing fingers and parts of his face. I was told that people in his situation live on as little as one penny a day. I will never forget the haunting piercing look in his eyes as he held out his tin cup with nubs, (where he once had fingers), and begged for money. Indeed occasionally I still dream about this poor soul.
As bad as that was, perhaps the most memorable thing that I’ve seen in that regard was in Mexico City. It was late at night around midnight and my wife and I were walking down the street. A tiny little girl came up to us and she was all alone on the bustling streets. She was just a child and could not have been over four or five years old. Mexico City is located in high elevation and it is very cold, especially at night and she was physically shivering and shaking. This poor little child had no coat and she had no shoes, and newspapers were wrapped around her feet; she was dressed in rags. As with the leper, her eyes told her story; hers were big, round, and beautiful, but there was a haunting look in them that made me ponder what misery she might have already seen in her short life. She looked up at me and gestured towards her stomach and mouth with her little hand and then held out a little plastic cup for money. She was desperately hungry and cold.
Folks if you ever wondered why people try to enter our country illegally and risk their very lives to come this country, go somewhere like this and see first-hand how they have to struggle daily just to survive. I do not have an answer to the dilemma that we face, but I do understand the desperation and longing for a better life. I do not agree with illegal immigration, but honestly if I were in a similar situation, I would do whatever it took to provide food clothing and shelter for my wife and boys.
We have plenty to eat, pure water to drink, and refrigerators to keep it cool. We have clothes to wear and shoes and socks for our feet. We have air conditioning to keep us cool and heaters to keep us warm. We have cars to get us where we want to go and can hop on a plane if we want to get there faster. We have televisions and games to entertain us and on and on and on and on. The next time we decide to gripe about things, we should remember not to talk with our mouths full.
We should appreciate what we have and not dwell on what we don’t have. God has richly blessed America as with no other nation. Our lives are not perfect and none of us will ever be perfect until Jesus establishes His new Kingdom. Until then though, we should be thankful and appreciate who we are, what we have, and especially where we live. We live in America the beautiful, the land that God shed His grace and light on, the land of the brave and the land of the free
If you agree with this, then why not bow your head and thank God almighty for blessing you in such a mighty way as to allow you to live in this great country in spite of her issues and problems. Best of all we are free to worship our Lord and Savior who ensures we will never thirst or hunger under His watch.
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am
the bread of life. He who comes to
Me shall never hunger, and he who
believes in Me shall never thirst.”
December 30, 2015 – Click here to listen